Arthur C. Clarke Award 2021: Complete list of winners

The 2021 Arthur C. Clarke Award went to The Animals in That Country by Laura Jean McKay, a haunting exploration of animal consciousness and environmental collapse that exemplifies why this prestigious science fiction honor remains one of the field’s most respected accolades. The Arthur C. Clarke Award, given annually since 1987 to the best science fiction novel published in the UK and Ireland, has long championed imaginative works that grapple with speculative ideas rather than simply chasing technological spectacle. McKay’s novel—which follows a woman discovering she can hear animals’ thoughts during an ecological crisis—represents exactly the kind of character-driven, conceptually rich science fiction the award celebrates.

What makes McKay’s win particularly significant is how The Animals in That Country foregrounds environmental concerns and the limits of human understanding, themes that have increasingly dominated conversations in contemporary speculative fiction. The novel earned recognition not just for its inventive premise but for its psychological depth and careful attention to how a single extraordinary ability might fracture rather than enlighten a life. This year’s winner signals that the Arthur C. Clarke Award continues to value literary sophistication and thematic substance—qualities that have helped it maintain influence even as the broader science fiction landscape has expanded dramatically across genres and mediums.

Below you’ll find more details about the 2021 selection and what made this year’s winner stand out among the contenders:

Science Fiction

• The Animals in That Country by Laura Jean McKay*